News Update

25 killed on bloodiest day in Gaza

New Israeli air raids have killed two people in Gaza City, taking the death toll to 25 on the bloodiest day of Israel's bombing campaign, Hamas's health ministry says.

The latest deaths came in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Tal al-Hawa.

"Two Palestinians were killed in an air strike on the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood," Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, without adding details.

In the day's most lethal raid, at least nine members of the same family - five of them children - were among 10 people killed when an Israeli missile destroyed a family home in Gaza City, the health ministry said.

At the scene, medics and bystanders all pitched in to remove the rubble to dig out the bodies in the futile hope of finding survivors, as people watched in shock, some weeping openly.

The latest violence hiked the Palestinian casualty toll to 71 dead and more than 600 injured in almost 100 hours of raids, while three Israelis have been killed and more than 50 injured by rocket fire since Wednesday.